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carol27 wrote: thispoison wrote: Hate the Tories. But...working tax credits had to be reformed. They've ballooned out of all proportion (£40BN per year apparently) and basically become an excuse for employers not to pay a REAL living wage. And capping them at 2 kids seems fair enough - and the principle should be extended to ALL benefit entitlements. Why should it fall to other taxpayers to pay for your children? It's your choice. Can't afford to look after them, don't have them. My parents didn't get tax credits. They would now. But they managed their life choices and finances sensibly, and didn't rely on the state. I hate to see the Tories dismantle the Welfare State, - and what they're doing to the disabled / mentally ill with ATOS and the unemployed with benefit sanctions is a national disgrace - but I also hate to see it abused by c**ts like Mick Philpott and the Jeremy Kyle brigade.
Whoa, I agree the employers should pay a living wage, but if in reality a lot of them don't.....? I'm not so sure " scroungers" are as prolific a population as the Tory press would have us believe; rather, a minority & how the hell they bypass the impossibly stringent requirements to get benefits I don't know. As you write, even the deserving claimants are being thoroughly shafted & their lives being ruined.
Personally, I work 5 days a week for just above a minimum wage. I haven't ever claimed tax credits, I don't know why I just dont. Prior to my current job, I earned a lot more money in an impossible career which I left through stress, realising it was affecting my mental health. The child benefit (when the boys were of age) went to my ex, as he was on a lower income than me. I don't like to think that anyone other than ourselves supported & funded our children. The uni maintenance grant was, however, a deciding factor in Gabe' s decision to apply to go there & now it's being withdrawn it makes that choice a lot more difficult. But, as I said, we'll find a way. I also acknowledge that others are suffering far more than ourselves; but don't intimate that I expect any of my fellow taxpayers to pay for my children; I have too much pride for that, & they're MY kids. I wouldn't want some mean, narrow minded, shrivelled up wanker having the satisfaction of any influence over my life choices.My hard earned cash is sensibly budgeted to the last bloody penny, it has to be or we'd be off to the food banks like hundreds of other poor sods.
An honest, heart-felt and real post Carol - how refreshing. Do try and get your son to university if at all possible. After a shaky start my eldest son has done well - made a career for himself gaining promotion on merit. However, he has always said he wished he had a degree and feels at a disadvantage to those that do. I could say I failed him by not sending him to university but the truth is I did the best I could in difficult circumstances.
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